


what's the opposite of a cockblock?

by jfw858



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Short & Sweet, renjun has a vast knowledge of alien conspiracy theories, yeah i think thats about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:27:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25191652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jfw858/pseuds/jfw858
Summary: Renjun was stuck taking care of Haechan’s poor dog, who wouldn’t stop barking every time someone walked into the room, while Haechan was throwing the party of the year—probably making out with Mark on the couch or dancing atop the kitchen table.Okay, that was an exaggeration. But Renjun was bored, and he wanted to go home, and he wished he hadn’t promised to keep an eye on Haechan’s dog. And then a boy stumbled in, and miraculously, Walter didn't bark.Renjun was determined to stay annoyed, but the boy was kinda cute.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 83





	what's the opposite of a cockblock?

**Author's Note:**

> So I realized halfway through writing this that the word I’m looking for is wingman, but by then I was already emotionally attached to the title so I refused to change it lol

Renjun was running out of ideas.

He’d been sitting on Donghyuck’s bed for the last hour, trying his hardest to get Walter to sleep.  
Walter being Donghyuck’s dog. Not an actual person. For whatever reason, Donghyuck found animals with oddly humanoid names immensely amusing, and when choosing a name for his puppy last year, Walter was no exception.

Anyway, as cute as Walter was, he was far from accustomed to the sheer amount of people inside Donghyuck’s off-campus apartment. The bass shaking the floor probably wasn’t helping his anxiety either. Each time drunken students opened the door, he barked loudly at them, not quieting until they disappeared back down the hall.

At first, Renjun was oddly touched that Walter was only comfortable around him, but it quickly became exhausting when it meant that there was no one who could take over for a minute while Renjun got a drink. Preferably several drinks. And leaving Walter alone wasn’t an option either, because a) He started whining if he was left alone in the room, and b) Renjun had made a promise to Donghyuck that he’d watch him, and c) Renjun wouldn’t put it past some random couple to sneak in while he was gone and scar Walter for life.

He was left with no other option but to experience the party through people’s snapchat stories as he gave Walter belly rubs with the other hand. When that got tiring, he switched tactics.

If Walter fell asleep, Renjun reasoned, he would probably have enough time to sneak out and grab a couple shots before anything bad happened. And maybe even wrangle someone else that could watch Walter until he woke up.

So, fast forward to now: Renjun, petting Walter gently as he plays the most soothing songs he can think of from his shitty iphone speakers, singing softly in the hopes that the puppy will fall asleep. Or at the very least, calm down enough for him to leave the room.

He’d already gone halfway through the Cigarettes After Sex album and was trying to remember the lyrics to “Truly” when a voice from behind him said “You have a really pretty voice.”

It sounded so matter-of-fact, Renjun wasn’t even sure it was meant to be a compliment.

He jumped, turning around to see a boy standing in the doorway. How long had he been standing there? He glanced at Walter, feeling a little betrayed that he’d chosen now of all times to stay quiet and not cause a commotion—the one time Renjun would have liked a warning that someone was watching.

“Who are you?” he wondered, a little apprehensively. Renjun wouldn’t pretend to know even half of the people in Donghyuck’s apartment right now, but surely he would have remembered this boy’s disarray of bubblegum pink hair.

“Jaemin,” the boy answered, attempting to push off the wall with his foot but kicking out the open doorway instead. He stumbled, pitching forward, but righted himself at the last minute, coming to a halt right in front of Renjun. His face split into a wide grin.

“You’re drunk,” Renjun commented dryly, scooting backward on the bed. “Why’re you here, instead of at the party?”

“I’m only a little tipsy. And they said there was a dog in the second room to the left that was barking at everybody but someone named Injun, and I’m here to prove them wrong, because I am excellent with dogs.”

Renjun was suddenly annoyed.

“First of all, my name is Renjun. And second of all—” Renjun was about to argue something along the lines of “Tough luck, because Walter barks at everybody,” but he realized that Walter still hadn’t started barking yet, despite Jaemin standing right in front of him.

Jaemin, seeming to sense Renjun’s uncertainty, lifted the side of his mouth up into a smirk and held his hand out directly in front of Walter’s nose. Lifting his head up lazily, Walter sniffed Jaemin’s hand before giving it a tentative lick and settling back down on the bed.

“See?”

Renjun didn’t know whether to be irritated or amazed. He raised his eyebrows, studying the pink-haired boy in front of him with newfound interest. Infuriatingly, he was attractive: long eyelashes framed wide brown eyes, and a wide smile offset the sharp edge of his jawline.

And the hair, of course: a little long and dyed strikingly pink, it looked soft to the touch. A few strands hung over his forehead and Renjun itched to tuck it back into place.

Renjun realized he was staring and blinked. “Um, close the door behind you if you’re staying, will you? I don’t want the noise to make Walter freak out again.”

Jaemin closed the door with a soft click. “You’re telling me Donghyuck named his dog Walter?”

Renjun laughed. “Yeah, I know. That was my reaction too.”

They ended up sitting on the floor, trading stories about everything and nothing back and forth. When Renjun discovered that Jaemin and Donghyuck met in the biology lab, he launched into a description of how it was possible humanity was simply an experiment on the laboratory that was Earth.

“It’s called the laboratory hypothesis; it’s one of the many explanations for the Fermi paradox,” he elaborated.

“What’s the Fermi paradox?” Jaemin wondered curiously. Walter’s head rested in Jaemin’s lap, eyes fluttering shut blissfully as Jaemin scratched behind his ears. Against his better judgement, Renjun felt himself softening.

“It’s basically the mystery of why there isn’t any strong evidence of aliens despite the high probability of them existing. Because the universe is huge, right? There have to be stars similar to our Sun and planets similar to Earth that have existed for way longer than we have. So, in theory, some of them should have the technology to travel across galaxies, and they should have been able to communicate with us.”

Jaemin listened intently. “I see,” he mused. “But what if we’re the first ones with this level of technology? Or what if they have contacted us and we just know it? Or what if people on Earth are just so fucked up the aliens want nothing to do with us?”

“Those are all possible explanations, but who knows?”

Down the hall, the noise slowly died down as the part came to a close and guests either stumbled out or were tossed out unceremoniously onto the landing by an increasingly exhausted Donghyuck. Still, Jaemin and Renjun kept talking.

Renjun would have never realized how late it was getting if it weren’t for Mark walking into the room, yawning and muttering something about Donghyuck “always stealing my fucking hoodies.” He stopped short when he saw them, blinking twice as if to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. “Oh my god, Renjun, Jaemin— I didn’t realize you guys were still here,” he said sheepishly. “Thanks so much for watching him, I can take it from here.”

Renjun wanted to be annoyed, but Mark seemed genuinely sorry, and the night hadn’t turned out so bad after all, so instead he shrugged and replied, “It’s okay, hyung.”

For a few awkward seconds, nobody moved. Then Renjun realized what Mark’s statement had really been: a cue to leave.

He stood hastily, grabbed his phone from atop the bed and, after a moment’s hesitation, held a hand out to Jaemin, who took it and clambered to his feet as well.

“Bye, Walter,” they whispered in unison. Mark watched them go with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

Jaemin followed Renjun silently down the hall. When they reached the front door, Renjun glanced up at him. “I guess this is goodbye,” he murmured reluctantly. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise,” Jaemin echoed. Then he brightened as an idea occurred to him. “Or maybe it doesn’t have to be goodbye. Where do you live?”

“What?” Renjun yelped incredulously. “Why do you want to know?”

“Relax, Injunnie. I’m not inviting myself over,” Jaemin teased. Renjun deliberated silently, wondering whether or not to trust this near stranger he’d just met. He wasn’t known as the skeptic of their group for nothing, after all.

In the end, Renjun decided that if Donghyuck and Mark trusted him enough to invite him over, it was good enough for him. And he’d gladly listened to Renjun’s conspiracy theories, which was more than he could say for his other friends. He gave Jaemin the name of his street and the other boy smiled.

“Perfect! I live near there. I’ll walk you home.”

“It’s okay—” Renjun began to protest on instinct, but with another look at Jaemin’s eager expression and thoughts of their conversation fresh in his mind, he reconsidered. “You know what? Sure, that’d be nice.”

Renjun normally walked home from Donghyuck’s in silence, striding quickly to get home as soon as possible. With Jaemin, they filled the silence with mindless chatter, stopping every so often to drink in the beauty of campus at nighttime. With Jaemin, Renjun walked slowly in the hopes that he wouldn’t reach his apartment quite yet.

When they eventually did, he was disappointed. This time, he knew they were out of excuses to stay together any longer. Nonetheless, they lingered outside the entrance to his building, saying their goodbye’s and goodnight’s and then continuing the conversation anyway.

“Could I get your number?” Renjun blurted, cutting Jaemin off mid-sentence. “I mean, if you want, we can exchange numbers. Only if you want,” he repeated.

Jaemin looked surprised, but his expression quickly morphed into one of delight. Renjun was more than a little surprised himself. “I was hoping you’d ask,” he laughed, handing Renjun his phone. “Here, put your number in and I’ll text you?”

“Alright.” Renjun handed the phone back. “Don’t wait too long, okay?” Did that sound too desperate? “I might think you’ve been abducted by aliens,” he explained.

Jaemin laughed again. “I won’t, promise.”

With a final wave goodbye, Renjun buzzed himself in and stepped inside as Jaemin started off down the street.

He stood in the entryway of his apartment for a full minute before moving through the rest of his nightly routine in a sort of trance, mind still focused on the events of the night.

Namely, Jaemin.

As he walked into his bedroom, his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a text.

“hey! it’s jaemin,” the text read. “i just wanted to say that i had a lot of fun tonight.” Renjun saw that he was still typing and waited.

“and i’m really hoping that i’ll get to see you soon,” Jaemin wrote.

“me too,” Renjun replied. After a moment’s consideration he added, “i’m really glad you’re so excellent with dogs :)”

Renjun received three more messages in the time it took him to crawl into bed and turn off the light. Jaemin was a fast typer.

“you’re so fucking cute injunnie”

“ik you can’t see me rn but i have the goofiest smile on my face”

“but you’re right, we fr owe walter a thank you for the introduction”

In spite of himself, Renjun blushed. Rolling onto his back, he held his phone to his chest and smiled at the ceiling.

“Thanks, Walter,” he whispered into the darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> Based loosely off a true story...except in reality me n the dog were upstairs at a house party and I already knew the cute guy and he came upstairs twice and BOTH TIMES the dog barked at him until I had to make him leave :’) it really do be like that sometimes
> 
> Maybe, just MAYBE I’ll make a sequel...the sole reason being that I’m sad that we couldn’t see them kiss or go on a real date ahaha please leave a comment or kudos if that’s something you might like! They truly mean the world to me <33
> 
> -K
> 
> (come talk to me on [ twitter](%E2%80%9Dtwitter.com/urlocalnctzen%E2%80%9D)!)


End file.
